Maritime E-Commerce Association (MECA)
Encyclopedia
The Maritime e-Commerce Association (or MeCA) is a not-for-profit
group of marine business and technical experts in the UK
who are collectively committed to speeding up the process of marine-related business transactions through the development of application-to-application interoperability standards.
MeCA promotes e-commerce
for the benefit of all parties in the marine supply-chain, including ship owners/managers, suppliers and software providers. It does this by developing, maintaining, harmonising and promoting common standards (including technical standards and protocols for interoperability between systems).
Founded in December 1999, MeCA has developed its own XML
based standard, called MTML (Marine Trading Mark-up Language
) derived from IMPA's ETSF EDIFACT
standard. It has widespread support throughout the maritime buyer and supplier community as well as with marine supply chain
software providers. The latest version is MTML Version 2.0. This support includes close relationships with IMPA (International Marine Purchasing Association) and ISSA (International Ship Suppliers Association).
The Maritime e-Commerce Association was responsible for developing the maritime industry’s first XML based communications standard, called MTML (Marine Trading Mark-up Language).
Shipserv
and SpecTec were one of the founding members of MeCA.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
group of marine business and technical experts in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
who are collectively committed to speeding up the process of marine-related business transactions through the development of application-to-application interoperability standards.
MeCA promotes e-commerce
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...
for the benefit of all parties in the marine supply-chain, including ship owners/managers, suppliers and software providers. It does this by developing, maintaining, harmonising and promoting common standards (including technical standards and protocols for interoperability between systems).
Founded in December 1999, MeCA has developed its own XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
based standard, called MTML (Marine Trading Mark-up Language
Markup language
A markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...
) derived from IMPA's ETSF EDIFACT
EDIFACT
United Nations/Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport is the international EDI standard developed under the United Nations...
standard. It has widespread support throughout the maritime buyer and supplier community as well as with marine supply chain
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
software providers. The latest version is MTML Version 2.0. This support includes close relationships with IMPA (International Marine Purchasing Association) and ISSA (International Ship Suppliers Association).
The Maritime e-Commerce Association was responsible for developing the maritime industry’s first XML based communications standard, called MTML (Marine Trading Mark-up Language).
Shipserv
Shipserv
ShipServ is a maritime e-market place and information technology services company located in London, UK.ShipServ was founded in 1999 by Paul Ostergaard on the idea of using the Internet to enable maritime shipping companies to improve the buying of ship supplies and spares...
and SpecTec were one of the founding members of MeCA.